Interview of General Manager for Aerospace Company (By Alissa Crescimano)
The company is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of aircraft engines, industrial gas turbines, and space propulsion systems. The company had revenues of $13B in 2008. There are 38,577 employees supporting more than 9,000 customers in 180 countries all over the world. The company is headquartered in Connecticut, but there are many facilities all over the U.S. and abroad.
The general manager oversees the largest jet engine repair shop at the company. The general manager's key responsibilities include managing operations and production schedules, achieving financial metrics and monitoring costs, supporting major investments and projects, and making sure the business operatins in a safe, efficient manner that honors all the FAA requirements.
1.Governance. §Reinforced comments of IT manager on governance. §Positives of governance: Fair process for evaluating waterline projects, Everyone uses the same thing (i.e. equipment, support, SAP) §Negatives of governance: “Just executives running it”, Difficult to customize for specific needs (i.e. needing a laptop for managers), IT should be more linked to the P&L
2.Budget Management. §Budget is allocated down to each unit by the executive in each area (i.e. OEM, Aftermarket, etc.) §Decisions on projects have been largely based on benefits to manufacturing (i.e. production reports, part tracking, and SAP applications). §Manager monitors budget on a monthly basis as part of overhead report and control.
3.Outsourcing. §Reinforced comments on company outsourcing through CSC. §Latest outsourcing in shop was the Solumina conversion, which is a $800K Engineering/IT initiative to create an electronic database of all work instructions. §Pros: Standardization of equipment, Easy to move people around the company §Cons: Difficult to customize equipment needs to meet unique business challenges
4.Implementation of Past Projects. §Successful Implementation: SAP §Unsuccessful Implementations: oRFID Chips.Invested $300k to attach RFID chips on parts and boxes.Difficult to manage since part and box were not always together.Did not make part tracking easier, so resulted in wasted money on non-value added technology. oS&O Standard Planning Tool.Never use by all, so could not maximize benefits of the tool.Ended up a waste of money. o“I2”.Company B2B website in Texas.Similar to a Yahoo setup.Project failed shortly after dot com bubble bust.
5.Forecast of Future Projects. Future Projects: §One Aero oWeb-based application linking company to customer. oReal-time information and response. oAlready developed software that will be leased oEstimated cost of $24K/year. §OpsCert oStores records of measurement of part inspection. oAutomates measurement and eliminates need for inspector. oAdd-on to SAP oEsimated initial investment of $835K followed by a cost of $40K/year. oProject planned for 2010.
6.Key Issues. 1.PC Data Storage 2.Storage of Engineering Plans 3.Automation of Process – currently adapt software to processes, not vice versa. 4.Availability of Reports – not enough data driven reports to drive decisions 5.Availability of Power Users – Not enough knowledge within the business. Due to (1) outsourcing and (2) Relocation of IT support back to “centralized” location.No longer do IT people sit in the shop.Need to train our employees so they can be power users.
(By Alissa Crescimano)
The company is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of aircraft engines, industrial gas turbines, and space propulsion systems. The company had revenues of $13B in 2008. There are 38,577 employees supporting more than 9,000 customers in 180 countries all over the world. The company is headquartered in Connecticut, but there are many facilities all over the U.S. and abroad.
The general manager oversees the largest jet engine repair shop at the company. The general manager's key responsibilities include managing operations and production schedules, achieving financial metrics and monitoring costs, supporting major investments and projects, and making sure the business operatins in a safe, efficient manner that honors all the FAA requirements.
1. Governance.
§ Reinforced comments of IT manager on governance.
§ Positives of governance: Fair process for evaluating waterline projects, Everyone uses the same thing (i.e. equipment, support, SAP)
§ Negatives of governance: “Just executives running it”, Difficult to customize for specific needs (i.e. needing a laptop for managers), IT should be more linked to the P&L
2. Budget Management.
§ Budget is allocated down to each unit by the executive in each area (i.e. OEM, Aftermarket, etc.)
§ Decisions on projects have been largely based on benefits to manufacturing (i.e. production reports, part tracking, and SAP applications).
§ Manager monitors budget on a monthly basis as part of overhead report and control.
3. Outsourcing.
§ Reinforced comments on company outsourcing through CSC.
§ Latest outsourcing in shop was the Solumina conversion, which is a $800K Engineering/IT initiative to create an electronic database of all work instructions.
§ Pros: Standardization of equipment, Easy to move people around the company
§ Cons: Difficult to customize equipment needs to meet unique business challenges
4. Implementation of Past Projects.
§ Successful Implementation: SAP
§ Unsuccessful Implementations:
o RFID Chips. Invested $300k to attach RFID chips on parts and boxes. Difficult to manage since part and box were not always together. Did not make part tracking easier, so resulted in wasted money on non-value added technology.
o S&O Standard Planning Tool. Never use by all, so could not maximize benefits of the tool. Ended up a waste of money.
o “I2”. Company B2B website in Texas. Similar to a Yahoo setup. Project failed shortly after dot com bubble bust.
5. Forecast of Future Projects.
Future Projects:
§ One Aero
o Web-based application linking company to customer.
o Real-time information and response.
o Already developed software that will be leased
o Estimated cost of $24K/year.
§ OpsCert
o Stores records of measurement of part inspection.
o Automates measurement and eliminates need for inspector.
o Add-on to SAP
o Esimated initial investment of $835K followed by a cost of $40K/year.
o Project planned for 2010.
6. Key Issues.
1. PC Data Storage
2. Storage of Engineering Plans
3. Automation of Process – currently adapt software to processes, not vice versa.
4. Availability of Reports – not enough data driven reports to drive decisions
5. Availability of Power Users – Not enough knowledge within the business. Due to (1) outsourcing and (2) Relocation of IT support back to “centralized” location. No longer do IT people sit in the shop. Need to train our employees so they can be power users.